Can I turn a foam plug in a lathe then cover it with glass to make a fuselage? The idea would be to dig out the unneeded foam to make room and save weight. The front 1/3 would be split on a bandsaw to add the insides.

I have had an airplane lurking in my mind for a very long time. The fuse is the shape of an NACA 0016 airfoil. The tail is like a Mitsubish Jack fighter of WW-2. The mid wing is also a NACA 0016 or there abouts. The wing tapers in profile to rounded tips. The fuselage is smoothly blended in to the wing. The the engine cowl looks like looks like a radial and the spinner is like the "Rare Bear". The gear are in the wing and heavily spatted and streamlined. A little cockpit that is well blended. I guess it would l looks like a super streamlined 1930's racer.

The foam is blue insulation BTW. I have a foam bow and power supply. I have cut a big wing. I covered that one with paper and white glue. It worked really well. Any other or better suggestions one covering foam core wings.

There was an article, many moons ago about building a fuselage just that way. I believe they built it in halves? Maybe someone remembers the article. You do have to have structure inside this fuselage. Models do take a beating.

Also, you may want to re-thing turning the fuselage on a lathe. When your done, you'll have a fuselage that looks like it was turned on a lathe. [sm=bananahead.gif]

Eliptical fuselages look much better when thinner on the sides.

Certainly traditional building methods, that have been proven, will work best. Nice to be creative also.

Actually if I were to use these materials to build a fuse I would hot wire two exterior and then sand to a finish shape followed by glass. Then I would hot wire the center leaving only about 3/16" inch of foam and then apply a light layer of cloth to the interior. The result would be two foam/glass composite shells that after joining would be quite strong but still fairly light

I was thinking of leavng some foam too. I have notticed a bit of remaining foam makes a strong structure with little glass. It seems like the foam is spreading out any load you put on the glass skin. Once all the foam is removed it gets weak. I like the idea of adding a layer of glass inside. I'll have to play and see what I prefer.